Finally got caught up with your RR after few weeks of being occupied by life. You know how that is! Sold my KLR and that took care of few loan/credit/bills. As stated in page 19, post # 281 your chief financial advisor will be making a nice donate to your trip now that you are in South America which I am certain you could use some extra fund on top of what other ADVRider has contributed. A little more than what you need won't hurt as you never know when you or other 'down' ADV rider like Justin might need it!

In my strong opinion, I think that individuals traveling frugally attempting to cross the Darien Gap is all about "luck". Some will manage to hit the jackpot finding a ship (sailboat or cargo) and cross the gap within 24-48 hours while others will have to play a searching-n-waiting game. At least you can offer some info but what would have been nice is that if you saved a track on your GPS then upload a map of where you have rode on and export it into image then offer it on here? I don't know if you can obtain central america road map or whatever? It was just a thought but probably too late to do that. It is ok if that can't be done.. no sweat!

Now I got one interesting and challenging question for you!! How many pizza have you had in the whole trip up to this point?? And did you had beer with your pizza every time you are eating a pizza? Perhaps that make sense to add a price of pizza/beer meal to your donating page and start doing a pizza/beer review?? hehe I don't think there is a single adv rider who dislike pizza?

Currently working on a sportster converting project and should make an interesting trip when I follow your trail.. And keep a lookout on my donation in couple of weeks. I'll send you PM when it is sent. Bon Voyage!!

Well, it's been a week. Hope John downloaded "Two Years Before the Mast" for reading material. Here's the return trip rounding the Horn:

Quote:

No one could trust himself to mittens, for if he slipped he was a gone man. All the boats were hoisted in on deck, and there was nothing to be lowered for him. We had need of every finger God had given us. Several times we got the sail upon the yard, but it blew away again before we could secure it. It required men to lie over the yard to pass each turn of the gaskets, and when they were passed it was almost impossible to knot them so that they would hold. Frequently we were obliged to leave off altogether and take to beating our hands upon the sail to keep them from freezing. After some time— which seemed forever— we got the weather side stowed after a fashion, and went over to leeward for another trial. This was still worse, for the body of the sail had been blown over to leeward, and, as the yard was a-cock-bill by the lying over of the vessel, we had to light it all up to windward. When the yard-arms were furled, the bunt was all adrift again, which made more work for us. We got all secure at last, but we had been nearly an hour and a half upon the yard, and it seemed an age. It had just struck five bells when we went up, and eight were struck soon after we came down. This may seem slow work; but considering the state of everything, and that we had only five men to a sail with just half as many square yards of canvas in it as the mainsail of the Independence, sixty-gun ship, which musters seven hundred men at her quarters, it is not wonderful that we were no quicker about it. We were glad enough to get on deck, and still more to go below. The oldest sailor in the watch said, as he went down, ``I shall never forget that main yard; it beats all my going a-fishing. Fun is fun, but furling one yard-arm of a course at a time, off Cape Horn, is no better than man-killing.''